'Touchstones of truth': The Enlightenment of Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset, Leger-Marie Deschamps, and Simon-Nicolas-Henri Linguet

This dissertation applies Julia Kristeva’ theory of revolution in the practice of signifiance to religious discourse. In particular, it argues that the salient features of signifiance are present and active in religious speech acts as well as poetic language, the subject of Kristeva’s doctoral thesis Revolution in Poetic Language. Signifiance describes the process in which meaning is produced in linguistic utterance, and its intentional practice is subversive not only in terms of language but culture in general.

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"Revolution in Religious Language": The Relevance of Julia Kristeva's Theory of 'Signifiance' for Theology

https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=theses

The Lord and Giver of Life: The person and work of the Holy Spirit in the trinitarian theology of Colin E Gunton

......................................................................................................................................... ii Lay Summary ................................................................................................................................ iii Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ vii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II: PERSPECTIVES ON KARL BARTH’S HERMENEUTIC AND EXEGESIS ......................................................................................................................... 11 1. A Survey of Approaches to Karl Barth’s Hermeneutics ..................................................... 11 1.1. The non-hermeneutical proposals ..................................................................................... 12 1.2. The hermeneutical-oriented proposals .............................................................................. 14 1.3. The exegetical-oriented proposals ..................................................................................... 19 1.4. The genetic-theological proposals ..................................................................................... 24 1.5. The theological-historical proposals ................................................................................. 30 1.6. Conclusion: a dogmatic approach ..................................................................................... 35 2. Defining the task of theological interpretation of Scripture ............................................... 37 3. Defining ontology, theology and ethics ................................................................................ 41 CHAPTER III: KARL BARTH’S HERMENEUTICS AND EXEGESIS IN THE EARLY PERIOD ................................................................................................... 46 1. Barth’s exegesis and hermeneutics in the Epistle to the Romans ....................................... 50 1.1. The first step: historical exegesis ...................................................................................... 51 1.2. The second step: an attempt at understanding ................................................................... 57 1.3. Conclusion: Barth’s theological exegesis in the Epistle to the Romans ............................ 68 2. Barth’s Exegesis in other Commentaries ............................................................................ 69 2.1. The Resurrection of the Dead............................................................................................ 69

Disruptive presence: the ontology, theology and ethics of reading the Bible as scripture in Karl Barth’s theological exegesis

The aim of this study is to identify and critically to analyse the ordinary christologies of a group of thirty regular Anglican churchgoers. Ordinary christology, by the definition employed here, is the account, by believers who have received no formal theological education, of who Jesus was/is (christology) and what he did/does (soteriology). Data was gathered by means of in-depth interviews. Three main christologies are identified: these are designated as fuctional, ontological and sceptical christology. Functional christology considers Jesus to be the Son of God, not God and is effectively Arian; ontological christology holds the orthodox doctrine that Jesus is God; and sceptical christology doubts or denies altogether the divinity of Jesus. Three main soteriologies are also identified: these are named as exemplarist, traditionalist and evangelical soteriology. Exemplarist soteriology emphasises the life and death of Jesus as exemplary; traditionalist soteriology cannot articulate a theology of the cross at all; and evangelical soteriology hinges on substitutionary atonement and a personal relationship with Jesus. Functional christology and exemplarist soteriology dominate the sample. Difficulties with the 'traditional' theology of the cross, and the idea that God’s forgiveness is dependent on Jesus' atoning death, are widespread amongst the sample, indicating that new ways of telling the story of how Jesus saves are urgently required if Christianity is to capture again the imagination of our contemporary world. Various formal characteristics of ordinary christology are also brought to light. The ordinary Christology of this sample is story-shaped, avoids metaphysical speculation, highlights the affective dimension of christology, resists learning cliristological dogma and is primarily non-cognitive. It also shows that christology is at heart an on-going hermeneutical process rather than a doctrinal system, and it suggests that what matters most in christology is not right doctrine, but letting the story of Jesus have its way with us.

Ordinary christology: a qualitative study and theological appraisal

https://academic.oup.com/jts/article-pdf/XXV/2/559/4641747/XXV-2-559.pdf

H. Chadwick

Papers

Protestant Theology in the Nineteenth Century: Its Background and History. By Karl Barth. Pp. 669. London: S.C.M. Press, 1972. £5.50